Bakari C (bakari45)'s Public Profile in the Diigo Community

Father, husband, photographer, freelance writer, Mac user, atheist. Interest also include jazz, graphic design, and computer programming.

My current blog: www.macphotographytips.net

I am interested in Digital photography,graphic design,jazz,rap,atheism,evolution,socialism,capitalism,politics,culture,Apple,Mac,iphone,Photoshop. My favorite music are jazz,rap,world music. Movies: Fahrenheit 911,Deja Vu,Mo’ Better Blues,Inside Man,Frost/Nixon,Matrix,God Father series,Apocalypse Now,Pulp Fiction. Books: Beloved,The God Delusion,The Digital Photography Book,The Autobiography of Malcolm X,Assata,Dead Wrong,God,the Failed Hypothesis,Culture jam,Lies My Teacher Told Me,Rich Media Poor Democracy,Their Eyes Were Watching God,A Short History of Everything.

Member since Aug 22, 2009, follows 24 people, 10 public groups, 269 public bookmarks (292 total).

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Recent Bookmarks and Annotations

Is Belief in God Hurting America? | Belief | AlterNet about 17 hours ago
- If that's true — and other researchers, such as influential Yale psychologist Paul Bloom, are touting the idea that mass religion's greatest value lies in the web of personal interaction it weaves — then societies that reject religion may suffer if strong secular institutions are not in place to maintain community bonds and foster positive civic associations.
- Paul is less compromising, characterizing organized religion, particularly the conservative Christian brand widely practiced in the U.S., as societal anathema, conspiring against real progress.
- 3 more annotations...
- - In his paper, Paul writes of an "antagonistic relationship between better socioeconomic conditions and intense popular faith" derived from fear that greater prosperity will loosen the grip of religion.
  - Paul, 54, lives in Baltimore and is not affiliated with any university or think tank. He is largely self-taught. He has published three respected books on paleontology, claiming naming rights to a handful of species, and he earns a living as an artist and illustrator of prehistoric creatures.
  - (A recent study published in the journal Reproductive Health found that states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs have higher rates of teenagers giving birth).
Is Belief in God Hurting America? | Belief | AlterNet about 17 hours ago
- Coulter routinely attributes our nation's most intractable troubles to the moral vacuum of atheism.
- In short, prosperity is highest in societies where religion is practiced least.
- 3 more annotations...
- - Comparing the two scores, he found, with little exception, that the least religious countries enjoyed the most prosperity. Of particular note, the U.S. holds the distinction of most religious and least prosperous among the 17 countries included in the study, ranking last in 14 of the 25 socioeconomic measures.
  - "Popular religion," Paul proposes, "is a coping mechanism for the anxieties of a dysfunctional social and economic environment."
  - In other words, we're not hardwired for religion.
Barbara Ehrenreich: Our Maniacal Optimism Is Ruining the World | | AlterNet about 17 hours ago
- Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism from nineteenth-century healers to twentieth-century pushers of consumerism.
- Manufactured optimism has become a method to make the poor feel guilty for their poverty, the ill for their lack of health and the victims of corporate layoffs for their inability to find worthwhile jobs
- 6 more annotations...
- - It took hold in the United States because in the ’80s and ’90s it became a business. You could write a book like Who Moved My Cheese?
  - Historically, the science of management was that in a rational enterprise, we have spreadsheets, we have decision-trees and we base decisions on careful analysis.
  - It was a shock, to find the extent to which corporate culture has been infiltrated not only by positive thinking, but by mysticism. The idea is that now things are moving so fast in this era of globalization, that there’s no time to think anymore.
  - BE: I haven’t sorted it out. He talks a lot about hope. And as a citizen I’d rather not hear about “hope,” I’d rather hear about “plans.”
  - People go to universities to learn critical thinking, and positive thinking is antithetical to critical thinking.
  - “We are going to undertake this struggle without knowing whether we will win, but we’re just going to damn well die trying.”
untitled about 18 hours ago
SU - Why Atheism? about 18 hours ago
Member - Jared F. - Listen free on Lala on 2009-11-25
- I'm going to assume you're familiar with 'In A Silent Way' and 'Bitches Brew',which are GENERALLY considered the first Fusion records.Tony appears on IASW and John on both and they are indeed landmark accomplishments.But (and excuse me if you already know all this shit),the album that actually preceded BB (by a couple months) was Tony Williams' 'Emergency!'
- .No,not everybody's cup of tea,but here from May,1969 is the astonishing:Emergency! by Tony Williams (Jazz)
- 22 more annotations...
- - And I've got 'Saudades'- I dig it a lot- but as you're about to experience,it ain't nothin' like the original.
  - Track 7 kicks in with a slightly funky beat and more non-stop shredding from McLaughlin. This is powerful rock music at it's best, but, uhmmm (apologies to our friend, the curator over at the Museum of Jazz) it completely retains the progressive improvising spirit of Jazz.
  - When I'm browsing through the discography of an artist I'm interested in and I see a reivew by Walter Gross or David L. for example, I'm twice as likely to stop and check it out! And the way you introduced this album was perfect!
  - Dude,I'm just getting started on this fusion thing !!
  - .I started buying jazz records after high school,so that would be '74-'75,the heart of the 'Fusion Era' and then by the '80s had moved to New Wave and bands like The Police.
  - I say ironically because while an excellent series,Burns used Marsalis and his cheerleader Stanley Crouch as major advisors on the shows.So it was great until you got to the '70s and the whole dissing of Miles and fusion began.I've ignored Marsalis ever since).
  - suggest a book by Stuart Nicholson called "Jazz Rock:A History".
  - I'm going to assume you're familiar with 'In A Silent Way' and 'Bitches Brew',which are GENERALLY considered the first Fusion records.
  - .And the first and most important is obvious- the 1970 release of 'Bitches Brew'.
  - the album that actually preceded BB (by a couple months) was Tony Williams' 'Emergency!'.Larry Young,John and Tony in a titanic organ trio that literally explodes from the record's grooves.Yeah, you have to deal with Tony's (ahem) vocals and the technically seriously botched
  - Miroslav Viteous', "Infinite Search"
  - You'll find that as I make rec's during this, that some of the stuff will be more 'progressive jazz' than strict 'Fusion'.Hence my preference for the term 'fusion era'.
  - I have the Miles, "In a silent way sessions" box
  - The way that when Miles, Wayne Shorter, Maupin or McLaughlin began their solos, the emotional weather and background rhythm could change in a finger snap.
  - You hear these characteristics showing themselves strongest in Spanish Key [lala.com] , John McLaughlin [lala.com] , Pharoah's Dance [lala.com] and somewhat in Miles Runs The Voodoo Down [lala.com] .
  - In Sanctuary [lala.com] , they are trying the idea that Miles and Shorter first tried with "Nefertiti": let the horns play and rephrase a strong melody, while the rhythm inventors in the band improvise below and around them. Here Miles and Shorter, start out quiet and work their way to the point that they are screaming full out.
  - Miles piece Calypso Frelimo [lala.com] from the mid-70's right before he dropped out, does get some of the BB quality, impulse and changes of mood. Beyond that, not much.
  - Did BB contribute to the development of later fusion music?
  - By the late '60s,jazz had lost it's commercial viability-it just wasn't selling.(Doesn't mean there wasn't good jazz being made).
  - Some blame the effects of the free jazz period or the Black Power movement scaring off mainstream (white) record buyers,but clearly those buyers were now spending their money on Rock and the (big) record labels were either ignoring jazz or having jazz artists record (usually) lame jazz/rock/soul hybrids.
  - I have never had friends that listened to Jazz, even though I've been a fan of the music since about the age of 17.
  - In college, I started listening to soul jazz artists like Grover Washington, Jr, Roy Ayers Herbie Hancocks 70s albums. I also got more into Miles, Coltrane, Ahmad Jamal, Al Jarreau, etc. And then for a long stretch I started listening to progressive rap. I always hated smooth jazz, but I tolerated it on the radio.
How to improve your photos without spending a dime | Digital Photo | Digital Photo | Macworld on 2009-11-24
- The ability to recognize and exploit good light is often what separates a strong photographer from a weak one.
- Obviously, the sky is very pink in the second image, but note too that the grass is warmer, as well as the thatch on the building. This warmer light is often far more interesting than the cool, white light of mid-day.
- 4 more annotations...
- - Choose your time Many photographers simply don’t go shooting in the middle of the day. Instead, they time their excursions for early morning or late afternoon.
  - If you have an iPhone, check out Marc Edwards’ Darkness app, which tells you when the sun will rise or set, as well as the angle and altitude of the sun, what time the sun is going to peak, and how bright the moon will be.
  - As a result, Fall has a softer, warmer light than any other season. So be sure to pick up your camera and get outdoors. You might also take this into account when planning scenic vacations.
  - And best of all, unlike a new lens or camera, light is one photo accessory that doesn’t cost anything. That is, until you see the light in Paris or Venice, but that’s another story.
US Debt A 'Phantom Menace,' Krugman Argues on 2009-11-24
- With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government's tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically."
- Incidentally, today's Wall Street Journal features more evidence that the Obama administration is rejecting Krugman's advice. "The White House is lukewarm about proposals by congressional Democrats to introduce broad legislation to create jobs, instead favoring targeted measures that would be less likely to inflate the deficit," the Journal reports, citing administration officials.
Schiller's spin on App Store issues ignores real complaints on 2009-11-24
- Schiller's point of view is that the approval process is valuable to developers and consumers, and that Apple is trying to "learn and improve" upon the process. That's more or less what Schiller said in when he addressed these issues over four months ago, though we have no evidence that any significant improvements have actually been implemented.
- "There have been applications submitted for approval that will steal personal data, or which are intended to help the user break the law, or which contain inappropriate content,"
- 1 more annotations...
- - hese reversals has happened often enough that developer Steve Frank joked that Apple's approval process worked like this:
Why go Pro when iMac goes faster? | Business Center | Macworld on 2009-11-22
- The Mac Pro has always been something of a niche product, appealing mainly to those who need vast amounts of internal storage (thanks to its four drive bays), expansion (three PCI Express slots) or memory (32GB on eight core models).
- and presently use a Mac Pro (albeit a three-year-old model).
- 5 more annotations...
- - it seems the Mac Pro’s niche may have gotten smaller: the performance of the new iMacs is so strong that I think people who were buying a Mac Pro simply for speed may now look to the iMac instead. As seen in our review, a Core i7-powered iMac recorded a higher Speedmark score than both of the Mac Pros we tested—a quad-core 2.66GHz model, and an eight-core 2.26GHz version.
  - Start by looking at the test results in our review. The Core i7 iMac wins eight of the categories; both Mac Pros combined only win seven—and of those, three are processor-intensive tests where the eight-core Mac Pro holds a four-core advantage over the iMac. So on performance alone, the i7 iMac is a compelling purchase.
  - Apple’s own 24-inch monitor is 1920-by-1200, and the 30-inch version is 2560-by-1600 (and really expensive). Because it seemed unfair to go with a screen that provides fewer pixels than the iMac, I settled on an HP 30-inch LCD, which has 2560-by-1600 resolution. That’s about 11 percent more pixels, but it was as close as I could get to the iMac’s resolution.
  - That’s a price difference of $2400, or nearly enough money to buy a second identically-configured Core i7 iMac. Even if you take the monitor out of the comparison, buying a bare Mac Pro will set you back $1200 more than the cost of the Core i7 iMac.
  - Because those who need Mac Pros will always need Mac Pros, I don’t think we’ll see a significant drop in their pricing. But we should see a large increase in performance, if the machine is to justify its top spot in the Macintosh product matrix.

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